§ Dr. PughTo ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what progress has been made in encouraging the use of solar panels on residential dwellings. [152868]
§ Mr. Timms[holding answer 5 February 2004]Under the Clear Skies initiative, which supports the installation of solar hot water heating systems among other small-scale renewables, 1,585 individual household grants have been approved with a total value of £792,000. Of these, 622 with a value of £311,000 have been paid to date.
Under the Community stream of Clear Skies, funds offered for solar hot water heating have a value totalling £968,734. It is difficult to give an exact number of dwellings that this equates to but it is estimated at approximately 560.
Under the Major Photovoltaic Demonstration Programme, which provides grants for the installation of solar electric panels, 408 Stream 1 individual small-scale (0.5 kWp to 5 kWp) applications have been approved at a total value of £2,843,496. Of these 221 with a value of £1,436,978 have been paid to date. Approximately 80 per cent. of these are for residential dwellings.
Under Stream 2 (medium and large-scale) of the Programme, 25 group-housing (5 kWp to 100 kWp) applications have been approved with a total value of £2,684,866. These applications equate to approximately 500 roofs/dwellings.